Color
by neoncarrotx3
Summary: Mariku picks up Malik and they go to the park to set off fireworks with Ryou and Bakura to celebrate New Years. Genderbent!Malik, bronzeshipping, tendershipping.


**Stupid AU fluff.**

**Reminding you again, Malik is _female_ in this. So if you're not a fan of genderbend, well. Um. Bye.**

* * *

><p><em>Today was a good day.<em> Malik thought to herself as she stared at the ceiling from her bed. Her sister was finally granted enough time off from work to actually be able to do something. Malik demanded that the two of them spend time together, and Isis was more than happy to comply. They rarely saw each other to begin with, with Isis's normally hectic schedule, so quality time with her little sister sounded like a _very_ good idea.

She was so tired. Isis had insisted on taking her to almost all her favorite places—Not that she was complaining! She couldn't believe how sweet her sister had been to do all that. She was just so _exhausted_ from all the walking—Domino is no small city.

A few taps at her window and she nearly jumped. What the—Her room was on the second story of the quaint little house she shared with Isis. So how…?

Curiosity getting the best of her, she sat upwards, tilting her head to get a better look at her window. There was nothing there, of course. She'd probably just imagined it. Or maybe it was the wind. It _had_ been storming yesterday.

Another tap, and she stood. Was that. A rock? Who in their right mind…

Walking over to her window, she honestly shouldn't have been surprised to see _him_. She actually cursed herself for not expecting it. One hand full of small rocks and one pulled back mid-throw, she stared at him. He seemed to have froze when he saw her there, but he half shrugged, continuing to toss it anyway, making Malik once again jump when it loudly made contact with the glass.

She growled, reaching back towards the window and flinging the thing open. She half flinched, not expecting it to be this cold outside. "Mariku! The fuck is wrong with you?" She sighed, watching him drop the rest of the pebbles and cross his arms at her. "Are you trying to break the damn window? You do realize there's something called a _front door_ right?"

He only grinned at her, raising his finger and moving it in a 'come here' motion.

She stared. What. Did he not realize how cold it was outside. Did he realize what _time_ it was. There was no way she was leaving. "Um. _No._"

He blinked, looking almost put off by her rejection. What, did he just expect her to fly out the window and go with him to god only knows where?

Now he looked mad. "Malik, you little shit, just get down here!"

_What a lovely way to talk to your girlfriend, you prick. _"Fine!" She screamed, giving in. "This better be fucking good, Mariku." She slammed her window closed, and quickly threw on a jacket. She was still in her nightgown, but this late at night, she figured nobody would really care.

"It's about god damn time." Mariku muttered as she opened the front door. "And would it have really killed you to get dressed or something?" He rolled his eyes at the face she made, continuing before she decided to yell. "Come on, we're going to the park." He grinned. "Bakura got his hands on some awesome fireworks. Ryou's there too, for you to flirt with."

"F-Flirt with-? What the f—" He grabbed her hand and she stumbled as he pulled her. She settled on walking silently behind him, glaring furiously at the back of his head. How dare he make her come out this late. When it was so cold. She shivered.

Mariku glanced over his shoulder when he felt her hand shake. "You're such a whimp. It's not even that bad outside." He let go of her hand for a minute to shrug off his jacket. "I guess it's what you get though, for coming out here half naked." He thrust it in her direction, rolling his eyes.

Half naked? How the hell did she look half naked to him? She snatched the jacket from his grip, tugging it on, over her other one. Fucker deserved to freeze, anyway. Well. Maybe not. He _did_ give it to her. But he didn't have to insult her while doing so. She opened her mouth to mumble a thanks but he grabbed her hand once more, jerking her forward. "You're so slow, Jeez! Can you not think and walk at the same time? Hurry up."

* * *

><p>Ryou smiled, sticking his hand up high in the air and waving it. "Look, Bakura! Mariku's back. And it looks like Malik agreed to coming!"<p>

"Wha? Oh." Bakura looked up from the package he'd just ripped open. "It's about time!" He grinned, tossing Mariku a bag. "Open that up, will ya?"

Malik quickly left Mariku's side to stand next to Ryou. "So. Um. What are they doing. Mariku said something about fireworks, I think." The two of them watched Mariku struggle with the bag for a minute before it ripped open, sticks flying everywhere. They giggled.

"Yeah." Ryou said, now looking at Bakura. He seemed to be stacking a few of the sticks in a pile, placing a fairly large one in the middle. "I'm not even quite sure where he got them, actually. I'm pretty sure people don't generally sell fireworks to minors, in these parts."

Bakura's ears pricked. "Minor? The hell are you talking about. You're almost making it sound like I got them legally." He grinned.

Ryou stared at him, blinking. He shrugged before feeling Malik repeatedly elbow him in his side. "Er, yes?"

"Does that look safe to you." She pointed at Mariku, who was holding up a lighter to the end of one of the larger sticks.

Bakura looked up, overhearing what Malik had said. "HEY, DUMBASS."

Mariku rolled his eyes, glancing at his friend. "I know what I'm doing, you piece of shit." He lit the string at the end of it, waiting a few seconds before tossing it as high as he could.

It really hadn't gone a safe distance upwards, and Malik covered her eyes when it exploded. She really didn't feel like watching the top of her boyfriend's head catch fire. Or. Maybe she did. She peeked between two of her fingers, before removing her hands completely. She stared in awe at how…pretty it was. She looked back to Mariku. He looked…safe. Grinning like a moron, but _safe_.

He seemed to have noticed her staring and his smile widened as he flashed her a thumbs up.

He. Was so. Weird!

The sparks were still going off right above his head, his blonde hair reflecting the small amount of color. For some reason she found herself blushing.

A loud 'aha' from Bakura caught everyone's attention once the lights finally faded.

Ryou kneeled down next to him, curious of what he was doing. "You know," He began quietly, "Sometimes I'm really not sure which one of you two is more reckless." Ryou paused, investigating the large pile of explosives Bakura had constructed. "You sure that's safe, 'Kura?"

Bakura snickered. "Who the hell knows? Get back, will you?" Once Ryou obeyed, he turned his head and saw Mariku walking back towards them. "What'd you do with the matches?"

Mariku held them up, tossing them to Bakura before going to stand with Malik and Ryou. He suddenly laughed, raising his arms to use Malik's shoulders as arm rests. "Don't blow your god damn head off, '_Kura_."

Malik tried shrugging Mariku off, but the guy wouldn't god damn budge. Although she couldn't help but snort as Mariku imitated Ryou's nickname for him.

"You think you're _so cute_, don't you." Bakura muttered sarcastically. "Bastard's lucky I don't blow off _his_ head." He lit the match putting it to the small string, watching it in mild fascination as the small fire travelled across it. Once it was decently close, he stood, sprinting over to where his friends were. He wrapped an arm around Ryou, smugly anticipating the explosion.

They waited.

And waited.

And waited…

Ryou glanced at Bakura. "…Um,"

"Shut up."

"…"

It didn't take long for Mariku to double over laughing, after that. "You…! They're blow outs? I bet you didn't even light them right, you dumb-shit!"

"H-Hey!" Malik hit him in the arm when she saw that Bakura didn't look too pleased. "I-It's okay, Bakura. I'm sure something must have. Uh, disconnected, or something." She finished lamely, not quite sure how fireworks worked to begin with. "We could always try again." Ryou nodded, more than happy to agree with her.

"Tch." Bakura scoffed, stalking back over to the pile before swiftly kicking it out of anger. He jumped back, surprised when two or three of the smaller ones actually went off, once again hearing Mariku howl with uncontrollable laughter. He turned, ready to just about bash his friend's face in, but Ryou was standing there, smiling and holding up another bag of unused fireworks for Bakura to take.

Bakura ripped them out of Ryou's hands before kneeling on the ground, setting to work again. They _will_ work this time. He would make sure of it.

Meanwhile, Malik was still trying to get Mariku to calm down. "It wasn't even that funny! Jeez! Will you be quiet already, your laughing is giving me a headache!"

"That. Was so. Perfect, though." He ignored what Malik said and continued to laugh. "Wh-When he kicked it, it—Oh my god, I'm dying."

"You're such a jerk! Laughing at your friend like that." Malik looked back at Bakura. Ryou was next to him now, and they looked like they were working on it together. "That's so embarrassing to begin with, for someone like him. You probably would have reacted the same way."

"No. I wouldn't have." He said, still smiling. "Because if _I_ did it, they would have gone off, like they were supposed to. Feh, you're getting too soft, Malik. That was funny and you know it. You're hanging out with Ryou too much."

"You completely missed the point." Malik rolled her eyes. "And no. It wasn't funny." She crossed her arms, glaring at him. "Forget it. I want to go home."

Now _that_ stopped his laughing immediately. "_What_? You're such a fucking killjoy, will you calm down. You're not going anywhere."

She forced a smile at him. "Mariku. It's cold. It's late. I'm tired. And I'm not sure how much longer all this is going to take. Take me home. I didn't even want to come out here in the first place."

"No. You're not going home until we see some god damn fireworks. Ryou wants you here. Bakura sort of wants you here. _I_ want you here." He glared at her, feeling slightly victorious at the now torn expression on her face. "So stop being a selfish cunt and stay a little longer."

"Fine! Fucking _fine_." He almost had her. He _almost_ had her, but then he went and insulted her again. She turned angrily and started to walk away, no longer in the mood to deal with him.

Mariku quickly grabbed her hand, pulling her back to him and kissing her on the lips.

"Just a little while longer."

...How the hell could she possibly argue with him then?

Mariku was still hugging onto her when Ryou jogged up to them, a small smile on his face. "O-Oh! Um, I don't mean to bother you two or anything, but… Bakura said that they should be ready now."

Mariku pulled away from Malik and held her at arms length the grin returning to his face. "See? I told you. It wasn't even that long. There was no reason to throw a fit."

Ryou glanced at Malik, curious. "A fit?"

"It wasn't a fit!" Malik snapped. "Shut up, Mariku. Just. Shut up."

"The fuck are you guys doing? Pay the hell attention over here!" Bakura called, holding another lit match in his hand. He made sure everything was perfect this time. He had a slight idea as to what went wrong with the other bunch, but thanks to Ryou's help, it wasn't likely to happen again. He lit the string, and ran over to the others, again, placing an arm around Ryou's shoulders.

It was so. Beautiful, when it finally happened. They shot up into the air and exploded, trails of all sorts of colors flying in every direction. Mariku's single firework was pretty—but this.

Malik wasn't sure she'd seen so many colors in one place in her life. She was glad she stayed. She was glad Mariku made her stay. She looked a little to her side and blushed when she saw Ryou and Bakura engaged in a fierce kiss. She felt butterflies well up in her stomach when she felt Mariku tap her shoulder, probably expecting the same thing.

Wh-Why was she so nervous all the sudden. They kissed all the time, it's not like this would be anything new. B-But. He just. He looked so pretty, all those colors shining on him like that.

"Malik." He said her name quietly, distantly wondering why she was zoning out like that. "It's nice, isn't it."

She nodded. The lights were finally fading. W-What, no, why did it have to end. They were so pretty, come back.

He reached up with his hand, to play with a strand of her hair. She idly watched it until he said her name again, causing her to look up.

Then he did it. He kissed her again, right under the fireworks. She knew he was going to, yet for some reason the butterflies that were in her stomach began fluttering out of control. She never understood how he could sometimes get her so _angry_…Yet. Then. There's this. It made no sense to her. And once she felt his tongue running along her lips, she didn't give a fuck.

It didn't last very long. It ended when the fireworks finally finished, much to her disappointment.

She looked at Ryou to see that him and Bakura had finally separated, and had started to get their things together. They were leaving? Now? Well, she did suppose it was late…

They all said their goodbyes, and thanked one another for a good time. And by thanked, Ryou and Malik hugged while Mariku started taunting Bakura about his earlier failed attempt with the fireworks.

Then they left, Malik watching them go hand-in-hand until they were out of sight. "Mm. Mariku we should probably—"

Without any sort of notice at all, Mariku suddenly turned around, getting on his knees. "Uh, M-Mariku? What are you doing?"

He looked over his shoulder. "What's it look like? You said you were tired before, right?" She blushed. He was offering to carry her? She mutely agreed, climbing onto his back and he stood. "Besides," He added. "You walk slow as fuck, so this way we'll get there faster."

She hit him over the head.

The walk back, as Mariku'd assured her, didn't take too long, and soon enough they were at her front door and he was letting her back on the ground. Malik reached under the welcome mat and grabbed the spare key. "That was…" She began quietly, turning back to face him. "Fun."

He nodded and she opened the door. "Thank you." She stood on her toes to kiss him, but she realized something.

Mariku looked like he was almost shaking. She actually had half the mind to smirk. Was the cold finally getting to him? "Um."

She couldn't believe she was going to say this.

Isis was going to kill her.

"Would you like to stay the night?"

Isis was going to _kill_ her.

He grinned.

* * *

><p><strong>c:<strong>


End file.
